# bar

Pronunciation: US say "BAHR" /bɑɹ/; UK say "BAH" /bɑː/

## Noun

1. A business that sells alcoholic drinks to be consumed on the premises, or the premises themselves.
   - Simple: A place where people buy and drink alcohol, like a pub.
   - _They opened a new bar downtown that serves craft cocktails._
   - _After the concert, the whole crew headed to a bar for drinks._
2. The counter at which drinks are served, in a pub or bar or in a home or hotel room.
   - Simple: The long counter where drinks are served, in a pub or at home.
   - _The bartender slid the glass across the bar._
   - _They sat at the bar chatting while the bartender mixed drinks._
3. A roughly rectangular block of any solid commodity, such as soap, chocolate, or metal.
   - Simple: A solid block of something, shaped like a brick or rectangle.
   - _Each bar of soap is stamped with the company logo._
   - _They melted the gold down and cast it into bars._
4. A solid, fairly rigid length of metal or wood with a uniform cross-section narrower than it is long.
   - Simple: A long, stiff piece of metal or wood, the same width all along.
   - _Workers welded each steel bar into the frame._
   - _The window was protected by thick iron bars._
6. A narrow strip on a phone or computer display that contains controls, information, or a typing field, as a toolbar does.
   - Simple: A long, thin strip on a computer or phone screen that holds buttons, information or a place to type.
   - _If the bar with the formatting buttons disappears, open the View menu to bring it back._
   - _The new update moves the battery icon and the clock to a slimmer bar along the top edge._
7. A place, or a counter, where a particular kind of food or drink is served, such as a coffee bar, snack bar, or salad bar.
   - Simple: A place or counter where one kind of food or drink is served, like a coffee bar or salad bar.
   - _We grabbed a quick lunch at the salad bar near the office._
   - _A small bar by the entrance pours coffee, tea, and soda._
8. A level of achievement regarded as a challenge to meet or exceed; a standard or expectation.
   - Simple: A level you have to reach or beat to do well.
   - _Her first album set a bar that her later records never quite reached._
   - _Each successful product raised the bar for the entire industry._
9. Lawyers considered collectively, or the legal profession; in some countries the barristers specifically, in others all lawyers.
   - Simple: Lawyers as a group, or the legal profession as a whole.
   - _He was called to the bar in London and began practicing as a barrister._
   - _The bar issued a statement condemning the proposed reforms._
10. A long, narrow rectangle or thick line drawn or shown on a screen, used in charts, codes, and indicators of amount or strength.
   - Simple: A thick line or narrow block in a chart, code, or display, like the bars showing phone signal.
   - _The tallest bar in the graph represents last year's profit._
   - _The thin and thick bars on the label encode a product number._
11. The examination a person must pass to become licensed to practice law. *(Philippines, US)*
   - Simple: The big test someone must pass to become a lawyer.
   - _After graduating, she spent two months preparing for the bar._
   - _Failing the bar meant he had to wait another year to practice._
12. A broad shaft, band, or stripe of light, color, or material.
   - Simple: A wide band, stripe, or beam.
   - _A bar of golden light fell across the table at sunset._
   - _Dark bars of shadow stretched between the columns._
14. A unit of written music between two vertical lines, containing a set number of beats; a measure.
   - Simple: A short section of written music between two upright lines.
   - _The pianist repeated the opening bar until it was perfect._
   - _She marked the tricky bars in red pencil._
16. An addition made to a military medal that someone already holds, awarded because of a later act.
   - Simple: An extra part added to a military medal for something the holder did later.
   - _She was awarded a bar to her gallantry medal after a second rescue under fire._
   - _Only a handful of men in the regiment had earned bars to their medals._
15. A horizontal pole in sport, such as the crossbar of a goal or the pole that high jumpers and pole vaulters must clear.
   - Simple: The pole across the top of a goal, or the pole a jumper must get over.
   - _The striker's header rattled the bar and went wide._
   - _She curled the ball just under the bar for a goal._
18. Something that prevents or hinders something, whether an obstacle or an official ban.
   - Simple: Something that stops something from happening, such as a problem in the way or a rule against it.
   - _His criminal record proved a bar to employment._
   - _Language differences were no bar to their friendship._
20. A vertical line across a musical staff that divides written music into sections of usually equal length.
   - Simple: A straight line drawn across written music to mark off sections.
   - _A double bar at the end signals the close of the piece._
   - _She drew each bar across the staff with a ruler._
21. Lines of hip-hop lyrics, especially ones written and performed with skill. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Lines of rap lyrics, especially clever and skillfully written ones.
   - _That rapper dropped a verse full of unforgettable bars._
   - _Every bar in the track lands with perfect timing and wordplay._
22. A long ridge of sand, gravel, or silt in a river, at a harbor mouth, or off a beach, which may block boats.
   - Simple: A long bank of sand or stones in water, such as at the mouth of a river.
   - _The pilot guided the ship carefully over the bar into the harbor._
   - _Breaking waves marked the dangerous bar at the river's entrance._
23. A unit of pressure outside the SI system, equal to 100,000 pascals and a little below sea-level atmospheric pressure.
   - Simple: A unit for measuring pressure, close to the air pressure at sea level.
   - _The tank is rated to hold gas at up to two hundred bar._
   - _Atmospheric pressure hovers around one bar at sea level._
24. An establishment that offers cosmetic services such as makeup, nails, or skincare.
   - Simple: A place that offers beauty treatments like makeup, lashes, or nails.
   - _She runs a busy brow bar that also does lash extensions._
   - _On Fridays the blow-dry bar is packed with women getting ready for weddings._

## Verb

5. To officially prevent or forbid someone or something from a place or an activity.
   - Simple: To officially stop someone from doing or entering something.
   - _The committee voted to bar him from future competitions._
   - _New rules bar visitors from entering after midnight._
17. To block or obstruct the way of a person or thing.
   - Simple: To block someone or something from getting past.
   - _Fallen rocks bar the only trail to the summit._
   - _A line of police barred the way to the palace gates._
19. To lock or bolt something by securing a bar across it.
   - Simple: To lock a door or gate by putting a bar across it.
   - _Villagers bar the town gates at the first sign of danger._
   - _Before the storm hit, he barred the cellar door with a heavy plank._

## Preposition

13. Used to mean 'except,' 'other than,' or 'besides.'
   - Simple: Used to mean 'except' or 'not counting.'
   - _The whole team showed up bar the goalkeeper._
   - _She had read every novel bar the last two._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A small, tablet-shaped dose of Xanax, typically two milligrams and scored so that it can be split into quarters.
- (noun) A straight stroke used in writing, such as a vertical line, the line in a fraction, or a line drawn through a letter.
- (noun) In mathematics, a line written over the whole-number part of a logarithm to show that only that part is negative.
- (noun) In physics, a line written over a particle's symbol to show its charge is reversed, marking it as the antiparticle.
- (noun) In programming examples, a placeholder name for an unspecified item, usually the one that comes after foo.
- (noun) A real or imagined boundary in a law-making chamber that only members and staff are allowed to cross.
- (noun) In a courtroom, the rail dividing the area for judges, lawyers, the accused and witnesses from where the public sits.
- (noun) The raised strip down the middle of a backgammon board, dividing its two halves, where pieces that have been hit are put.
- (noun) In heraldry, a narrow horizontal band across a shield, thinner than a fess.
- (noun) A gate in a town's walls, surviving today mainly in certain British place names.
- (noun) A rod used in mining or quarrying to bore holes in rock or to ram material firmly into them.
- (noun) A seam of rock or mineral that cuts across a vein of ore.
- (noun) The fortified entrance building of a castle or walled town.
- (noun) On each side of a horse's heel, the part of the hoof wall that turns inward toward the frog and runs into the middle of the sole.
- (noun) The toothless gap between a horse's front teeth and back teeth, on the lower jaw, where the bit lies.
- (noun) An amount of an illegal drug sold as a unit, usually about an ounce.
- (verb) To mark something with stripes or bands.
- (preposition) In horse-race betting, used after a price to mean that every horse not named is offered at those odds or longer.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4, 6–12, 14–16, 18, 20–22, 24** — Vulgar Latin *barra, whose origin is uncertain, gave Old French barre ("beam, bar, gate, barrier") and then Middle English barre.
**Meanings 5, 13, 17, 19** — Medieval Latin barrare ("to bar"), made from the noun, passed through Old French barrer into Middle English barren. As a preposition, the word is properly the verb's imperative.
**Meaning 23** — Borrowed from Ancient Greek βάρος (báros, "weight") in the early 1900s. The Norwegian meteorologist Vilhelm Bjerknes introduced the modern unit, first publishing on it in 1906.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bar (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).